Part 27 (1/2)

Sheep are docile and easily handled, and they live on a greater diversity of food and require less grain than any other kind of live stock. In mixed farming there is enough food wasted on most farms to maintain a small flock of sheep.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 253. SHEEP HAVE LONG BEEN CALLED THE GOLDEN-HOOFED ANIMALS]

Sheep may be divided into three cla.s.ses:

I. _Fine-Wooled Breeds_

1. American Merino.

2. Delaine Merino.

3. Rambouillets.

4. Hamps.h.i.+re Down.

5. Oxford Down.

6. Cheviot.

II. _Medium-Wooled Breeds_

1. Southdown.

2. Shrops.h.i.+re.

3. Horned Dorset.

III. _Long-Wooled Breeds_

1. Leicester.

2. Lincoln.

3. Cotswold.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 254. IN THE PASTURE]

The first group is grown princ.i.p.ally for wool, and mutton is secondary; in the second group, mutton comes first and wool second; in the third group both are important considerations. Wool is nature's protection for the sheep. Have you ever opened the fleece and observed the clean skin in which the fibers grow? These fibers, or hairs, are so roughened that they push all dirt away from the skin toward the outside of the fleece.

Wool is valuable in proportion to the length and evenness of the fiber and the density of the fleece.

EXERCISE

1. How many pounds ought a fleece of wool to weigh?

2. Which makes the better clothing, coa.r.s.e or fine wool?

3. Why are sheep washed before being sheared?

4. Does cold weather trouble sheep? wet weather?

SECTION LVI. SWINE

The wild boar is a native of Europe, Asia, and Africa. The wild hogs are the parents from which all our domestic breeds have sprung. In many parts of the world the wild boar is still found. These animals are active and powerful, and as they grow older are fierce and dangerous. In their wild state they seek moist, sandy, and well-wooded places, close to streams of water. Their favorite foods are fruits, gra.s.s, and roots, but when pressed by hunger they will eat snakes, worms, and even higher animals, like birds, fowls, and fish.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 255. WHICH WILL YOU RAISE?]

Man captured some of these wild animals, fed them abundant and nutritious food, accustomed them to domestic life, selected the best of them to raise from, and in the course of generations developed our present breeds of hogs. The main changes brought about in hogs were these: the legs became shorter, the snout and neck likewise shortened, the shoulders and hams increased their power to take on flesh, and the frame was strengthened to carry the added burden of flesh. As the animal grew heavier it roamed less widely, and as it grew accustomed to man its temper became less fierce.